Damiao, 23, currently plys his trade at Internacional but he made a huge impact in England this summer for the national side when he finished the top scorer at the Olympic games. Willian, 24, was heavily linked with a move to White Hart Lane last summer and has only boosted his CV in the months since with impressive performances for his club Shakhtar Donetsk, particularly in the Champions League.

The Spurs boss, who enjoyed another victory yesterday over Reading which has once again catapulted the North London club into the top three of the Barclays Premier League, told the Daily Mirror about his interest in bringing both men to White Hart Lane;

“We got in touch with Willian [in the summer] and he is one of the players that interests us,”

“I like his style, but we could not reach the value Shakhtar were asking. It does not mean we won’t try again.

“Shakhtar are a difficult club to negotiate with as they do not need the money and can keep their players.

“For Damiao, he had a spectacular Olympics. We follow the best players and youngsters. Leandro fits this profile.

“He has had injuries after London 2012, but he is a player that is always on our list.”

Spurs are currently short on numbers in the strikers department and with the possibility that Emmanuel Adebayor could change his mind and decide to represent Togo at the African Cup of Nations, that would rule him out of action for several weeks for his club, leaving only leave Jermain Defoe as a recognised striker.

Adebayor scored in yesterday’s 3-1 victory over Reading at White Hart Lane and he has become more and more a regular player in the club’s impressive second quarter of the season. Villas-Boas will likely be desperate for him to choose club over country, but even after the forward released a statement last month insisting that he won’t go to the African Cup of Nations over a row over unpaid bonus, he later revealed the real reason behind his omission from the squad was due to the bad memories steming from the deadly gun attack at the 2010 tournament in Angola.

Villas-Boas spoke of the situation yesterday and said it is touch-and-go as to whether Adebayor will snub the Togo call and that at the end of the day, the choice lies with the player himself;

“It’s a vulnerable situation, anything can happen,”

“I’ve told you the player can still go, I understand it is still a possibility.

“It was always his choice, I’m not going to put pressure on him. We’ve left it to the player to decide. If player wants to go, we respect the African Nations Cup.”

Villas-Boas was however delighted to see Adebayor claim his third strike of the season yesterday;

“It was important for him today to score,” he said. “He had a couple of situations recently against Sunderland and Villa, it was important for him to get back into the goals.

“Strikers live off goals, it was important for him to score. You see him trying like Jermain Defoe, Clint, and how decisive he is also.

“They want to get in the box, they breathe off scoring goals and it will give him a boost for sure.”